In an exclusive interview, Telecom Review and Reailize Field CTO, Michal Patryk Debicki, discussed Reailize’s goals in helping telecommunication sectors and businesses in making the most of their operations.
Given how quickly technologies are developing in the telecom sector, what primary duty do solutions providers have to fulfill to help telcos and businesses run their networks more effectively and efficiently?
Ah, it's a three-pronged approach: enable, empower, and accelerate. First off, AI – it's a big deal, right? But here's the thing: it's not about just jumping on the AI bandwagon. We're talking about using AI to tackle real business challenges. So, even though enabling AI technology, deploying an AI framework is one of our duties, there still is a long way before it can bring the expected business benefits. Here comes the empowerment in a form of sharing the experience and expertise in understanding the problem space and applying a relevant solution.
Let me give an example. Take traffic in cities, for instance. You think, 'Hey, more roads, less traffic.' But sometimes, the real issue is public transportation or how the city's laid out. Building more roads might just make things worse. It's the same in telecom. A client might say, “I want performance-based alarms”. But, when you really dig in, you find out that the NOC team can’t even cope with the influx of the network faults. So, alarms prioritization based on the customer impact will be a more feasible place to start, before introducing performance-based alerting.
And the third part – that's about putting the pedal to the metal on the right solutions. But only once we figure out what they really need, we can speed things up, get them the tech and the processes that hits the mark.
Our role? It's to be adaptable, ready to meet customers wherever they are in their journey. Some might be just starting to think about AI. Others are ready to dive in and create their own solutions. We've got to be there, ready to support them at any stage.
In the end, it's about this blend – enabling the right technology, empowering our customers by really understanding their needs, and then accelerating with solutions that truly matter. That's what keeps the telecom networks not just running, but running smoothly and efficiently.
One of Reailize’s core approaches focuses on ambitious innovation. What strategies appear to be the most significant when it comes to AI innovation?
You know, I was recently flipping through this book 'No Rules Rules' by Reed Hastings. Fascinating stuff. He talks a lot about the importance of talent density. It's like, when you bring a bunch of talented people together, magic happens – innovation, creativity, it all just sparks.
At Reailize, we're all about gathering that talent. We've got our R&D hub in Montreal, and let me tell you, the talent density there? It's like a goldmine for innovation. We've been playing around with AI for a while, especially in packet capture (PCAP) analytics. Our models were good, but they needed time to learn, to understand all these service-related nuances.
But here's where it gets interesting. With the progress in Large Language Models (LLMs), we switched gears. We began teaching these models a “PCAP language” and training them to detect failures as malformed PCAP sentences. As a result, we have a solution to spots network issues without the long, drawn-out process traditional AI learning requires. It's faster, it's smarter.
So, yeah, talent density – it's not just a buzzword. It's the bread and butter of innovation and creativity, especially in the AI space.
Could you describe how Reailize intends to influence the transformation of the global telecom network in the upcoming years?
Absolutely! Right now, everyone's talking about 'Telco to Techco' transformation. Similarly, you might have also heard about journey towards an InfraCo and a SoftCo. It’s all about enabling operators to become more focused on service delivery and monetization capabilities. Our intent is to influence this type of transformation head-on with four key pillars: people, automation, cloud, and business outcomes.
Starting with people, it's all about mixing things up – cross-pollination, you know? We're bringing together folks with diverse, global experiences. Imagine someone who's worked on unique projects across continents joining our team. That kind of exposure? It's gold for speeding up transformation and automation.
Speaking of automation, we've developed a platform that's all about making life easier. It takes those repetitive, yawn-inducing tasks off people's plates, freeing them up to focus on convergence with new technologies.
This platform is actually also a game-changer for cloud deployment. What's really cool about it is its vendor-agnostic, no-code interface. It means you don’t need to be a cloud expert to use it. We've had instances where we've slashed the deployment time from a couple of months to just a few hours.
Now, why is cloud deployment such a big deal? Well, the cloud creates this dynamic environment that's super adaptable for rolling out new services. It's like being on a speedboat rather than a cruise ship – you can pivot and adapt way faster. This quick adaptation is key to bringing out the business value much quicker.
And another thing – our platform is totally open-API. This means it works seamlessly with other systems and partners. It's all about playing well in the sandbox, you know? Making sure everything connects and works together without a hitch. That's the beauty of it.
Finally, the business outcome – that's where we really roll up our sleeves. We're in it with our clients, side by side. It's about building partnerships. Having an open platform, open APIs, choosing the right partners, opening up the ecosystem – it's a game-changer. It's all about boosting profitability. Tech companies are known for their profit margins and quick tech adoption. We want to be the catalyst for telecom operators, helping them fast-track their way to higher profits and tech savviness.